originally proposed. >> germanchancellorangelamerkelwent into the talks saying she was confident the agreement would be reached. in the end, the 27 member states came up with a compromise that even british prime minister david cameron welcomed as a good deal for britain >> it is perhaps nobody's perfect budget, but there is a lot in it for everybody. obviously, you can look at the end result through many, many prisons. from the overall european perspective, i want to emphasize that the budget is future- oriented. it is realistic. it is driven by pressing concerns. >> the total budget ceiling over the next seven years has been tapped at about 960 billion euros. it is the first-ever net reduction. reaching a unanimous agreement between all of the eu's member countries was a difficult task. >> it is not easy reach an agreement between 27 different countries, but we've managed it, so we are now confident and positive going into negotiations with the european parliament. we know it will not be easy, but we are all agreed that what is important is that we have taken a great stride towa

byangelamerkel'sconservatives, by and large. a lot of people in conservative ranks want to defend what they view as a more traditional view of the family. these are divisive issues. there's a lot of passion around this. it is very emotional. the greens are saying they're going to make all these issues an element of their election manifesto, so that should be interesting. there is a lot of passion in germany. i have to say also that is not quite as much as it was recently in france where tens of thousands of people took to the streets in demonstrations for and against same-sex marriage. we saw similar scenes in the british parliament as well. >> the outlook is brightening for europe's biggest economy. investor sentiment in germany has surged to a three-year high. >> the index is one of the most closely watched investor confidence surveys. it pulls germany's top 300 financial analysts and is being taken as another sign that the german economy could rebound quickly from a sharp slowdown at the end of last year. on today's market action. german blue chips rallied tuesday to lock in solid g

wants toreplaceangelamerkelas chancellor in september is in hot water over italy's e -- election. >> he spoke of the near winners as clowns. one of them, beppe grillo, is a comedian, so he might not be that defended -- offended. >> the other is silvio berlusconi. he is a two-time former prime minister. >> the italian president's state visit to germany has been overshadowed by the diplomatic incident created by peer steinbrueck. italy and germany would continue to work together, despite occasional irritations. >tuesday, peer steinbrueck referred to a delete's former prime minister -- to italy's former prime minister as a clown. >> when one talks about things concerning another friendly, allied country, and about the result of a free election, one must be well balanced in his choice of words. >> he would not be drawn into the matter. >> i do not wish to comment. some statements are sufficient in themselves. >> he said italy would soon have a new government, insisting the country is not ungovernable. >> the world health organization says certain cancers are more likely to develop in